The road to being Cabin Crew for Emirates

Hi, I’m Rachel!

I’m a flight attendant at Emirates, one of the world’s largest airlines, and travel around the world for a living.

It’s the best job in the world, and I wouldn’t change it for a thing!

I’ve been flying for Emirates for 5 and a half years now, and have worked my way up from the economy cabin, to business, and now eventually to first class, where I’ve been serving up caviar and Dom Perignon for the past year and a half.

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to do something related to aviation, as my dad is a pilot and we always travelled a lot as a family. Aged 14 we all moved to Austria, and after I finished school there (I attended a school with a focus on tourism and hospitality) I saw an advert for Emirates in a magazine, and it was like it was placed there just for me!

At the time I applied I was still 20, and you have to be 21 to join, so I waited until a bit before my birthday and started looking for open days near me. As I was living in a fairly small town, there was no recruitment going on there, but there was an open day in Munich, around 5 hours away by train. I knew that I had to get the job, so I did a lot of research beforehand to make sure I was fully prepared.

Funnily enough while I was researching the job and trying to find first-hand stories of life in Dubai , I came across a few blogs, which actually inspired me to start my own blog, The Dubai Diaries.

It’s now been almost 6 years since I started writing, and I still love it!

I went to the open day in Munich, and although I was nervous I knew it was my dream job, so I had a huge grin on my face the whole day! The day consisted of a few different stages, including dropping your CV off, a group interview (which was mainly about how you work and communicate in a team) and also a reach test, to make sure you are tall enough. There was also an English test – although English is my first language, I attended high school in Austria for 6 years, so I sat the test with everyone else. The next day, I came back for the final interview, and exactly 2 weeks later I got a missed call from a strange number.

I called back immediately to accept the job with Emirates, the best 21st birthday present I could have imagined!

I flew out to my new home, Dubai, in December 2012, knowing nobody. The initial training takes just under 8 weeks, and in that time I made friends with the best group of girls who I still see whenever we’re not in the skies.

Flying is not always easy, and as much as I love it, there are definitely some downsides to the job. It can be so hard to stay in touch with family and friends, and it’s never easy having to miss out on special occasions like Christmas, but I get plenty of annual leave and cheap standby tickets which I can use to travel the world! Something else that I always said wouldn’t affect me is the jet-lag, but it really does catch up with you the longer you fly.

I love documenting my travels, and having my blog has really made me feel inspired to do as much as I can on layovers, and get out and explore.

Of course, there are some days where I’d love to just sink straight into that hotel bed and order room service, but most of the time you’ll find me exploring every new city, so I hope you’ll enjoy following along on my travels!